Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada. From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores key issues facing Indigenous peoples today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations. Topics for the 12 lessons include the fur trade and other exchange relationships, land claims and environmental impacts, legal systems and rights, political conflicts and alliances, Indigenous political activism, and contemporary Indigenous life, art and its expressions.

KM

I knew very little about Indigenous before I started this course. I have learnt many things and looking forward to learning more. This is a great course for a distinct overview of the nation.

NG

Sep 17, 2018

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

Great course. Very informative and relevant. Videos were well-edited and featured accompanying course notes, which were very helpful for the quizzes. Would highly recommend to all Canadians.

From the lesson

Fur Trade

This module discusses pre-contact trading systems between Indigenous peoples of North America with a focus on the geographical region of Canada. We examine the chronological events of contact with Europeans and the events leading up to, and during the fur trade. This module also explores the long lasting social, political and economic ramifications of the fur trade on Indigenous peoples.

Taught By

Dr. Tracy Bear

Assistant Professor

Dr. Paul L. Gareau

Assistant Professor

Transcript

[MUSIC] As we just discussed, North America was made up of a very complex and vibrant network of nations and communities. Whose stories and histories began long before Europeans made their way across the Atlantic Ocean. Specifically, we began to explore the diversity of indigenous ways of being and ways of knowing. Relationships across North America were facilitated through kinship ties and trading networks. As we will see, the fur trade in particular, was incredibly dynamic. A mix of cultural, economic, and social interactions that eventually founded the country now known as Canada. The fur trade irrevocably changed the relationships amongst the first nations. As well, the fur trade gave birth to the Métis nation. The size of population prior to 1492 is a matter of academic debate. Historical demographers estimate that the number of people living on North America, not including Mexico and Central America at the turn of the 15th century, was somewhere in the range of 1.2 million to 2.6 million people. Through research, the low population numbers have been overturned and the population numbers are much higher than originally estimated. Researchers also believe that there might have been up to 200,000 people living in the Northwest Coast. For more detailed information, take a look at the Pre-contact Regional Population Table provided in the resources section. The Wyandot, or Huron, were eager culturalists and lived in villages in what is now present day Southern Ontario. This nation had some of the highest population densities in Canada, with estimates ranging from 20,000 to 33,000 inhabitants. As a consequence of contacting colonization, the indigenous peoples of Western Hemisphere experienced a tragic and massive loss of population. It is probably not surprising to find out that trading networks existed prior to European contact. Pre-Contact Trade included some basic necessities, but most trading was done for luxury items. Some of the materials that were traded, in many instances across far distances, included cooper. A variety of shells used for making beads. Obsidian, a very hard, brittle volcanic rock used in toolmaking, flints, and eulachon or oolichan oil made from candlefish. The routes used by coastal first nations for thousands of years to trade oolichan oil are known as Grease-Trails. Some Pre-Contact Trade did include some basic necessities. For example, tribes such as the Mandan and the Arikara traded their surpluses of corn to the Assiniboine for their furs and meat. Diplomacy followed trading to ensure positive relationships and allies, and was a key element of any trade event. Gift Exchange or gift diplomacy refers to the common requirement that gifts are exchanged when formalizing an agreement. Agreements had to be renewed periodically with diplomatic exchanges. Exchanging gifts is an important part of ceremony. And so, gifts were exchanged during many other important events. Highly respected individuals were held in high esteem due to their generosity and giving nature. [MUSIC]

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